January 6On January 6, 1921, Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield died of pneumonia in
Logan County.

January 7On January 7, 1860, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act compensating $1,500 to state attorney Andrew Hunter
of Charles Town, Jefferson County, for his legal services in prosecuting John Brown and his raiders.

January 8On January 8, 1943, a fire in the Pursglove No. 15 coal mine on Scott's Run, Monongalia County,
killed 13.

January 9On January 9, 1942, the State Board of Education adopted a resolution mandating the salute to the flag as a regular part of
school activities for teachers and students. The following year, the law requiring such a salute was found
unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court.

January 10On January 10, 1859, President James Buchanan appointed Democrat Charles Faulkner of Berkeley
County as American Minister to France. Faulkner had been recently defeated in the election to retain
his seat in the United States House of Representatives.

January 11On January 11, 1893, United States Senator John E. Kenna of West Virginia died in Washington at the
age of 44.

January 12On January 12, 1941, Doddridge County native Matthew Neely resigned from the United States
Senate to become governor of West Virginia.

On January 12, 1897, the Marion County Court ordered the destruction of the courthouse, which was carried out immediately.

January 13On January 13, 1905, Joseph H. Diss Debar, legislator, Commissioner of Immigration, and designer of
the State Seal, died in Philadelphia.

January 14On January 14, 1873, Glenville Normal School opened with T. Marcellus Marshall as acting principal.
It later became Glenville State College.

January 15On January 15, 1890, an extra session of the West Virginia Legislature convened in Charleston to determine the winner of the
disputed 1888 gubernatorial election between Democrat Aretas B. Fleming and Republican Nathan
Goff.

January 16On January 16, 1959,Elgin Baylor of the National Basketball Association Minneapolis Lakers refused to play in a basketball
game in Charleston, because he was not allowed a room with the team in a Charleston hotel that
banned African-Americans.

January 17On January 17, 1885, James Arthur Jackson, who served as West Virginia Supreme Court librarian
from 1925 to 1965, was born in Coal Valley.

On January 17, 1977, John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV was inaugurated in Charleston as the twenty-ninth
West Virginia governor, serving until 1985.

January 18On January 18, 1842, the Virginia General Assembly created Wayne County from part of Cabell
County.

On January 18, 1951, eleven coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Burning Springs Collieries Company in Kermit, Mingo County.

January 19On January 19, 1894, African- American railroad worker John Hardy was hanged at Welch, McDowell County. Hardy later became the subject of a popular folk song.